T

he implementation of the country’s sustainability standards for the palm oil industry, known as the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO), has done little to curb deforestation and land conflicts, according to a report by Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI).

FWI data showed that during the formative years of the ISPO between 2009 and 2013, deforestation — the main driver of deadly forest fires in the world’s largest palm oil producer two years ago — occurred on around half a million hectares of land used for oil palm plantations.

The figure was equal to around 22 percent of total deforestation in concession areas in the country, FWI executive director Soelthon Gussetya Nanggara said recently.

Had criteria regarding land acquisition in ISPO certification been implemented correctly, ISPO implementation could have prevented deforestation in the country, he said.

The ISPO prohibits palm oil companies from acquiring land in areas needed for forest conservation.

When gathering data for its study, the FWI found a palm oil company running a 14,000-ha plantation in Berau, East Kalimantan in the midst of cutting trees in areas located near riverbanks, even though it had been ISPO-certified.

The FWI monitored the company’s activities in March 2016, when the company was under assessment to acquire ISPO certification. “The ISPO was implemented to ensure palm oil companies only used non-forest and destructed forest areas, as it is the only way to lower emissions,” said FWI campaigner Linda Rosalina, who also took part in the study.

The ISPO implementation also appears to be fruitless in settling agrarian conflict.

The Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA) recorded conflicts on around 601,680-ha in the plantation sector in 2016, an increase from 302,000-ha recorded in the previous year.

The ISPO certification also requires companies applying for certification to report any conflicts and disputes during the assessment period.

The FWI concluded that the policy had yet to be implemented well, referring to its monitoring of a conflict between a palm oil firm and locals in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra.

The FWI found the company had acquired ISPO certification for its 11,545-ha plantation while it was still locked in a dispute with locals regarding its acquisition of 165.6-ha.

“There is a weakness in the system, especially regarding the audit and assessment process,” FWI said in its study.

Another finding in the study was that, six years into its implementation, only around 225 out of 2,302 palm oil companies had attained the government-sponsored ISPO certification, although all palm oil producers in Indonesia were obliged to follow it.

The slow progress, Soelthon said, had been caused partly because the ISPO commission, established to oversee the certification process, had too much authority, making the process inefficient.

“For example, the ISPO has full control of the assessment by accreditation firms, while the task is ideally carried out by the KAN [National Accreditation Committee],” Soelthon said.

The Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affair Minister’s assistant for food and agricultural coordination, Musdhalifah Machmud, said the government would use the FWI’s findings to improve ISPO implementation.

Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (Gapki) executive director Fadhil Hasan told The Jakarta Post on Saturday that the grouping supported the idea of making a better ISPO system, claiming that it would expedite certification.

“The ISPO system needs to be strengthened, as the industry has no choice but to comply with the mandatory certification” Fadhil said.

Fadhil also said Gapki would not give recommendations for ISPO certification to companies found to have violated their right-to-cultivate permit (HGU) during expansion.

When asked why land conflicts continued to occur after ISPO implementation, Fadhil said Gapki could not “ensure that no disputes would happen after certificate issuance.”